O'Neill becomes USC basketball's latest fall guy

LOS ANGELES – Kevin O'Neill survived a 6-26 season. He survived a suspension after an altercation with a booster at a hotel. He survived USC's first basketball loss to UC Irvine in 29 years.

It seemed only a matter of time, though, before the four-year bumpy ride ended, and on Monday morning USC fired O'Neill as its coach. Longtime assistant coach Bob Cantu inherited the job on an interim basis.

USC's quest for long-term basketball success continues, and for the third time in the past nine years, the Trojans will be starting over with a new coach. O'Neill departed Monday, in the middle of his fourth season, with a 48-65 record and with only one NCAA Tournament "play-in'' game on his postseason resume.

"It's part of the business,'' O'Neill said in a phone interview. "It's just something where Pat and Steve (Lopes, associate athletic director) made a decision to go in a different direction. I respect their decision and I appreciate the time that I had there. It's a great university and I wish the players the best.

"I'm happy with what I did. I can sleep at night and I'm good with everything.''

The Trojans were off to a respectable 2-2 start in Pac-12 Conference play this season, but O'Neill lacked a consistent rotation, players lacked consistency and progress seemed to be coming at a glacial pace. USC has a 7-10 overall record and struggled early with one of the nation's toughest nonconference schedules.

Athletic Director Pat Haden backed O'Neill a year ago, at the end of an injury-plagued 6-26 disaster of a season, but apparently had seen enough and fired O'Neill, 55, in an on-campus meeting at 8 a.m. Monday.

"It was hard for me to evaluate him as a head coach until this year, when he had enough players and veterans to compete,'' Haden said in a statement. "As the season progressed, it became evident to me that we needed new leadership in our men's basketball program.

"Despite a nice road win in our last game, I felt it was best to make a change now, with most of the Pac-12 season still ahead of us, in order to re-energize our team.''

Haden did not respond to requests for further comment, but in an interview with the Register last month, Haden said, "There's no reason we can't be good in two sports'' – meaning football and basketball – and said, "(Improvement) hasn't been reflected in the record so far, but it's still early in the season.''

Hired in 2009 (at roughly $1.5 million per year), O'Neill guided USC through NCAA sanctions after misdeeds under predecessor Tim Floyd. Known for being affable, media-friendly and direct with players – sometimes profanely direct – O'Neill stomped and yelled on the sidelines and had a lightning-rod personality.

Still, shortly after the firing, point guard and team captain Jio Fontan called O'Neill to offer support.

"My relationship is a lot deeper than basketball with KO. He is somebody I will be in contact with for the rest of my life,'' Fontan said. "I just wanted to reach out and wish him the best going forward.''

Cantu, 38, is in his 12th season as a USC assistant and will take over for the final 14 games, starting Thursday when USC plays Oregon at Galen Center. Cantu previously coached USC in the 2011 Pac-12 Tournament, when O'Neill served a one-game suspension for an altercation with an Arizona fan at a hotel.

Cantu said he would make some immediate on-court adjustments, such as playing zone defense, playing at a higher tempo and playing 7-footers Dewayne Dedmon and Omar Oraby together.

It's unknown how strongly Haden will consider Cantu as a full-time replacement.

"You always have aspirations of becoming a head coach,'' Cantu said. "We'll have to wait and see. I don't know at this point. But obviously I've always wanted to be a head coach.''

O'Neill said he hadn't yet thought about whether he would seek another college job or return to the NBA as an assistant coach.

"I'm going to clean my office out and just move on to the next chapter of my life,'' O'Neill said. "That's all you can do.''